According to data from the Central Statistical Office, 2024 saw the highest number of collective layoffs, both reported and implemented, since the outbreak of the pandemic, reports Salon24. This is confirmed by calculations from the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy (MRPiPS), which show that employers reported and implemented collective layoff plans covering 37,300 employees, a jump from 2023, when 30,600 people were planned to be laid off.
The most common direct reasons for mass layoffs are rising energy and labor costs. However, there is another important reason. Experts call it deferred restructuring. The tools, subsidies, and reliefs that were introduced for companies first when the pandemic appeared, and then when the war in Ukraine broke out, are now ceasing to work. Companies are facing increasingly higher costs and are starting to cut them.
It is also unknown how the tariffs imposed by the U.S. will affect the situation in the long term.
In the first two months of 2025, group layoffs were reported for 14,800 employees, a 300 percent increase over last year. In addition, 7,700 people have already lost their jobs.
Group layoffs are especially a problem for smaller towns where a company is the largest employer in the town. For example, Fabryki Łożysk Tocznych in Kraśnik, as many as 310 people, or one in three employees, are to lose their jobs, and more people will lose their jobs by June.
The mayor of Krasnik says it is a tragedy not only for the people losing their jobs, but for the whole of Krasnik, which has about 33,000 residents. The city mayor explains that “the factory is an important element of city-building.” There will be fewer jobs, also in cooperating companies, fewer taxes and fewer reasons for young people to stay in the city.
For now, mass layoffs are not having a negative impact on the labor market. MRPiPS reported that the registered unemployment rate in March 2025 most likely fell to 5.3 percent. In February, it was 5.4 percent.
The ministry reported that compared to the previous month, the number of unemployed people fell by over 15,000 people or 1.8 percent. Year-over-year, the number of unemployed people increased by just over 9,000 (1.1 percent).
